Magic Mirror
by Ms. Nobody
Summary: Oneshot, post war, about Harry's miserable life. Minor slash near the end if you don't like, don't read. HPDM.


It had been three months since Harry had found the Mirror. It was his salvation from the day-to-day, the drab on-goings that he half-heartedly called his life. Since the end of the war, Harry Potter had lost his sense of purpose. Battle wounds had left him unable to have children with his beautiful wife, Regina, who he did not love. He didn't have to defend the world from Voldemort. He was no longer the Boy Who Lived. He was a war hero, and no one cared anymore. He didn't have throngs of girls after him anymore. People whispered when he walked by, but not for the same reason. His scars scared them, now, instead of wowing them.

The mirror, made in Venice, a land famous for their magic mirrors, had appeared in his life with no explanation, reason, or return address. When he looked into it, a different, less weathered Harry looked back.

Harry had established that the mirror looked into an alternative life. He imagined that it started at a singular decision that he had made. Every time he looked into it, it went back further.

In his real life, Regina Potter felt her husband grow more and more distant from her. She didn't know about the Magic Mirror. All she knew was what she heard him say in his sleep; mutterings about a mirror and a boy named Draco.

That, and once, he woke himself, screaming "Just let me go back!"

Poor Regina didn't know what to do to help Harry. She tried everything for him; tea, meditation, witchdoctors, whatever. Nothing helped, and every day, he came home from a day as an Auror at the ministry, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and went to his study, where he remained for five hours. Then, at midnight, he joined her in their bed and slept with his back turned to her.

Harry looked into the mirror for the umpteenth time. There, he saw himself smiling, kissing Draco and wrapping his arms around him. His heart panged, remembering Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy, the only bad thing about Hogwarts, past Snape. Draco Malfoy, the boy who drove him out of his mind. Draco Malfoy, who mocked him till he thought his head would explode. Draco Malfoy, the boy who saved his life during the war, and the boy that he had loved since third year.

Draco Malfoy had died in the war, after he had helped Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Harry and Hermione had been the only ones to survive from the fruits of Draco's efforts. They couldn't face each other anymore, though. Hermione had retreated into study. Harry hadn't heard from her since the memorial ceremonies. He didn't make any efforts, though, either.

In the mirror, they were young; probably 19. They had a home, a small loft where Draco played piano and Harry wrote the next day's lesson. Hermione and Ron came over from their home together, and bickered on the couch as the other couple brought out tall glasses of port. Harry smiled as he watched.

Days passed. Five hours in the study turned into seven, and seven into nine. Soon, Harry wouldn't go to work, wouldn't leave that room. He refused to eat, and never slept.

Regina gave up suddenly, two weeks in. She was sick of sitting in the living room, pretending everything was okay, was going to be okay. She was sick of her husband wasting away in that damnable study of his. She was sick of not knowing. So she stomped upstairs, her long dark hair rippling behind her. She tried to open the door to Harry's study. It was locked.

Inside, Harry took no notice.

Regina knocked loudly, and shouted, "Harry!" She knocked louder. "Harry?" After knocking louder once more, she grew hysterical, screaming his name and banging on the door.

Again, inside, Harry was too absorbed in the mirror to notice.

Regina rammed her entire body's weight against the door, and it gave. She found herself unsure of what happened and on the study's floor. Harry was shaken of the mirror, and he dropped it on the floor, where it shattered. Harry looked at Regina, then to the broken mirror, and back to his wife, and he broke out crying. She ran to him and held him up. While there, she picked up a piece of the smashed mirror and put it in the pocket of her dress.

Regina took him to their room and sat him on the bed. There, she kneeled in front of him and took his face in her hands.

"This is all wrong." Suddenly, Regina knew what she had to do. She took Harry and dragged him to the fireplace. On the mantle was a pot full of powder. Regina grabbed a handful of the Floo Powder and her husband's hand, and tossed it into the fire. "Home of Hermione Granger," She shouted authoritatively.

The two arrived in Hermione's fireplace immediately. Hermione sat in front of them, eyes wide. There before her stood her school-aged best friend, Harry Potter, and his annoyingly beautiful wife, Regina. Harry's face was tear-stricken and red.

"Hermione, I beg of you, make this better!"

Hermione shook her head. She couldn't take in the situation. In front of her, the girl who had won Harry from her friendship those many years ago was now begging her for something beyond her comprehension. She shook off her surprise.

"Regina, sit down. Harry, you too. Now, Regina, tell me what happened."

Regina sat and caught her breath a little. "Alright. You see, Harry had been so reclusive and worn out; we never kissed anymore and he was always in that damned study of his. Soon, he stopped coming out at all."

As she spoke, Harry sat next to her on a loveseat, oblivious to the world.

"When I broke in, he had a mirror in his hand, but I surprised him and he dropped it. He seemed so transfixed, and then he just broke into tears."

Hermione listen carefully. "Alright, do you have a piece of the mirror?"

Regina nodded and stood, removing it from her dress. Hermione took it from her and scrutinized it. She nodded. "Just as I thought."

"What?" Regina asked desperately.

"It's a sort of Magic Mirror, made in Venice. It shows what would happen if a critical moment in someone's life had been different."

Regina nodded, a little terrified.

Suddenly, Harry looked up. "Hermione, send me back."

Hermione looked at him.

Regina looked between the two. "Huh?"

Hermione knew exactly what Harry was talking about. She had, in the past few years, been completely absorbed into time magic. Despite all of this, she shook her head.

"Harry, you know I can't."

He fell to his knees on her carpet. "Please, help me."

Her heart melted. She nodded.

The trio walked into Hermione's study, where she opened a large book and flipped through the pages for a moment. Harry looked with hope at his old friend.

Regina felt hot tears fall down her face. Harry stood up straight, his weathered face determined. Hermione raised her wand.

"Oh, forgive me. _Transfetum Reflecto._"

An orange bubble grew from her wand. It floated towards Harry and soon enveloped him.

Moments and hours and days may have passed. Finally, Regina turned to Hermione. "What did you do?"

"I sent him into the mirror."

Regina suddenly grew enraged. "You did _what?_"

Hermione shook her head. "I had to, Regina. I can't send him into the past. You can't change the past."

Regina nodded.

Hermione nodded herself. "I wish I could have gone with him."

Harry knew he was in the mirror world, but each day, the fact faded out of his mind a little more. He had little to worry about.

Draco walked in from the other room and wrapped his pale arms around Harry's neck, kissing his head sweetly. Harry put the newspaper her was reading down, and Draco came in front of him and straddled him on the sofa. He nuzzled his nose into Harry's neck.

Harry smiled and held Draco around the waist. Whispered, "I love you," into the other man's platinum blond hair.

Down the road, Dean and Regina Thomas visited Hermione and Ron Weasley and little Harry, Harry's godchild. Fred and George Weasley lived across from them, and Malfoy's school friends, Crabbe and Goyle, both lived happily married across town. Parvati Patil was the Minister of Magic.

The war had killed many, but they were rebuilding.

However, nothing of that was on Harry's mind. Wrapped in his lover's embrace, he felt no need to think of anything else.

Back in the dimension Harry had come from, Regina and Hermione made peace and became close. Every night, though, Regina Potter shed a single tear for the love she had lost.

In the mirror world, Regina Thomas shed a tear for losing Harry Potter. She loved Dean, yes, but she was in love with Harry.

Soon she dropped into despair. For a while, she seemed temporarily relieved of her depression when she found a dainty Venetian mirror at a magical store on Diagon Ally, but that didn't last long. Dean took her to his best friend's wife, Hermione.

"Can you help her?"

(A/N: This was just a short bit of something, Post-war, post end of the story, etc. Regina and the plotline are my creation. Everything else pretty much isn't. "Magic Mirror" inspired in part by the book "The Water Mirror" but not actually taken from it. Review or something, please!)


End file.
